In Stitches
by DARWIN51
Summary: Partial Saw crossover. Jules and Lassie wake up in one of Jigsaw's games. Rated for themes and violence. Lassie POV, established Shules, but Lassiet one-sided.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N so, Saw crossover with Psych. Rated M for violence. Lassie's pov. I don't own psych or saw. Enjoy.**

_Ow…what the hell?_ Pain sears all up and down my right side, and I open my eyes to see what it is. It's way too dark. Immediately I go into hyper drive, trying to figure out my surroundings. It's pitch black, I hear a soft dripping sound, bubbling coming from somewhere I don't know, and the air is thick with the smell and taste of freshly sheared copper. I can tell I'm sitting, there's something around my chest and my right arm and right leg hurt like fire.

I try moving my arm, but too late I realize there's something attached to it, and I cry out as new waves of pain course through my body.

_Not something, someone._ I realize as I hear light breathing near my ear. I turn my head and in the dim light I can make out the features of someone's face. Someone I know very well.

"O'Hara! O'Hara, wake up!" I nudge her and she nods awake, then panics, turning her head around, and, of course, making the same mistake I made of tugging on my arm.

"GAAAHH!" we both cry out in pain but I still can't see what the hell hurts so bad.

"Where the hell are we?" She whispers slowly, and before I can answer that I have no frickin clue, a bright light washes away all out immediate thoughts and I see a television set about five feet in front of us.

"Hello detectives. I want to play a game…"

**Sorry the intro is so short, I have three chapters written so far and at least chapter two will be up by tonight.**


	2. Chapter 2

That familiar face, that familiar voice. It can only be the sadistic murderer that O'Hara and I have studied for countless weeks.

Jigsaw.

I feel O'Hara tense up next to me.

"Detective Carlton Lassiter. You never grew close to anyone, always pushed them away. Even in your partner's attempts to reach out, you pushed her away, too. You also have quite a temper, charged with excessive unnecessary force on the man who hurt your partner. Now is your chance for redemption. As you can see, you two are sewn together." He chuckled.

I look down. He's right. My right forearm is sewn to O'Hara's left by thick black string in uneven, sloppy stitches. I hear her gasp next to me, and I also look down at our legs, where our calves are sewn together in the same way.

"Now is your chance, Carlton." He chuckles.

"Detective Juliet O'Hara. Once upon a time you had friends and a loving family. But ever since some particular events, you haven't let anyone close to you. Now is your chance to reach out to the man next to you, because the only way out is to work together. That bomb in the corner has 10:00 minutes, and has been counting down since I started."

I turn to look in the corner, and see the red numbers 07:12 counting down. _Shit._ I start to panic.

"The jar to Carlton's left contains a single key. That key opens the restraint holding you two to the wall. The catch, the jar is filled with acid and more is being put in as we speak, move quickly. The second key unlocks the door. Juliet will find that one soon."

"Live or die, detectives. Live or die. Let the game begin." The screen goes fuzzy, and that's the only light we have to work by.

06:22

"O'Hara, where's that other key?" I ask quickly.

She lifts up the front of her shirt with her good arm and I see a weird scar on her stomach, a wound that has been cauterized. "God damnit. We don't have any time to waste!" I shout.

"I'll get the other one." My left hand hovers above the jar of boiling water reluctantly. "Do it!" she shouts . I throw my hand into the water, crying out

in pain. The water splashes and a drop hits my cheek. _Tsss_. _Oh god that's hot!_ I wipe my cheek on my shoulder quickly, trying to get rid of the stinging.

I yank my hand out of the water, without a key. "C'mon!" I yell at myself. I plunge my hand into the water, more focused this time, and I make no sound. Only seconds later, my raw, swollen hand comes out triumphantly holding a key. I sigh and drop the key at my side. O'Hara quickly reaches it and unlocks our chest restraint.

"Hang in there, Carlton." She says gently. We both take a big breath, now that we can breathe more freely, and I check the clock.

04:48

Okay, shit. Neither of my hands can function very well. O'Hara reaches for a knife lying near her and pulls up her shirt again. She presses the knife gently on her flesh, hesitating. Sick of wasting time, I reach my arm that's attached to hers over and push hard on the knife, creating the incision needed. She hisses in pain, and blood flows all over her front.

She puts on her game face, the face that means shit's about to go down, and pushes the knife further in, creating a larger and deeper cut, and finally tossing the knife aside and reaches in. This time she cries out in pain. Her hand comes out with the second key, and finally we can leave.

I stand up and she has no choice but to stand too. I take the key and open the door, then pocket the key. Maybe we can lift prints later.

We find ourselves in a dimly lit hallway. We're about to run when I remember something. "Wait!" I yell. "What?" She says. I run back into the room, dragging O'Hara along with me. "No! Carlton, what the hell! Let's go!" she shouts, tugging me in the opposite direction. "The tape!" I yell. She allows herself to be pulled back into the room and I retrieve the tape from the VCR. I risk a glance at the clock.

00:42

"Run!" I yell, and we get back out into the hallway and run, falling every few steps like some type of fucked up three legged race.

"Inside outside!" She shouts. "What the hell?" I say back. "It's how you run a 3 legged race! Inside outside inside outside" She keeps going and we begin to move steadily, instead of falling all over the floor.

Inside Outside Inside Outside Inside…

BOOOMM

But that's not actually what it sounded like. It was more like B- to me, before my eardrums were blown out and everything became muffled. We were thrown forward, fire on our backs, out the door at the end of the hall, then tumbled down a grassy hill. We came to an awkward stop at the bottom of the hill, and all I could see was some white stuff far away before I passed out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Slight Lassiet one-sided**

"Carlton, Carlton, please wake up!" My eyes opened slowly to find O'Hara leaning over me, frantically tugging at my collar.

"O'Hara." I say but it comes out as a whisper.

"Oh, Carlton, thank god! I thought I was going to lose you!" Before I can tell her that I had those exact same thoughts, she leans down and kisses my cheek. "Thank god you're alive." She says, and I realize she had only kissed me out of happiness, and I was glad I hadn't said anything. She collapsed back to the ground next to me, our movements still restricted because of being sewn together.

"Okay." I said, naturally taking charge of the situation. "We have to keep going. Find someone, get as far away from that building as possible. Jigsaw usually doesn't come back for his victims, but then again, we only have a few accounts to go by since hardly anyone escapes, and I'm not taking any chances. We made past the hard part, O'Hara."

I look over at her. God, she's so…_damn beautiful. _Yeah, she's covered in soot and blood, her hair falling out of her messy ponytail, but her eyes, they look at me with trust, she's relying on me.

"We made it." I say again.

She bites her lower lip and looks down, a small tear at her eye. She puts her right hand on her stomach.

_Oh. I had forgotten. Cutting open her stomach must've…_

"Juliet." I can tell I surprise her by using her first name

"3 months." She says. "I was 3 months along. Shawn was the happiest person in the world, he was so excited about being a father. The day I told him, he went out and spent 1000 dollars on baby stuff. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so happy. I can't imagine…" her voice trails off.

I lean in closer to her and let her softly cry on my shoulder, her sobs making her whole body shake. I put my left arm around her and gently rub up and down her back.

Eventually she stops and I feel numb and distant as we get up and start walking awkwardly. It's as if I'm watching myself from somewhere else.

We walk in silence for a while. This area is all woods. We come to a steep slope, and at first we try to scoot our way down on our butts, but suddenly O'Hara's foot gets caught on a root and she stumbles forward and we both tumble down the hill roughly. I see the tree coming before I can manage to stop us, and we both end up tumbling towards opposite sides of the tree. The sides where we are stitched together hits the tree at full-force, ripping out arms apart with a tearing noise so sick that I throw up.

We lay like that for a while, each clutching our now free arm to our chest to try and stop the bleeding, our legs still around the tree. I am still trying to get over the pain of my arm ripping. The string was so strong, our flesh ripped instead. I ended up with the threads still in my arm, while they had ripped clean out of O'Hara's, her arm looking like something large had taken a bite out of it. I moved to her side of the tree and we finished our descent down the hill.

At the bottom, Juliet collapses to her knees, taking me down with her. "I can't go any farther." She says. It _is_ getting dark, and since we can barely walk in daylight, I don't even want to try at night. I agree and we lay in a comfortable half-sitting position.

"What he said…he was right." She says quietly. "About me pushing people away, about you not letting anyone close…" She trailed off, the dim lighting of the moon reflecting in her eyes as she stared out into the sky.

"He's a damn bastard." I say. "But he _is_ right. And what he said about…growing apart. Not letting anyone in. Even I've noticed you've been drifting away from Shawn."

"But we were going to be closer! This baby was everything. It was our way to save our relationship. Carlton…I just want to go home." She started crying again.

"I know O'Hara. I'm so sorry." I held her tighter, and squeezed my eyes closed, wishing we _were_ home. People should be looking for us by now, but we could be on the other side of the country, in the middle of these freaking woods, who knows where. Soon I fell asleep without even realizing it.

The light shone brightly on my eyes and I squinted them open to see the sun peeking through the trees. I nudged O'Hara to wake her up, but when I looked over, she was already awake. Tears sparkled around her eyes and her right hand clutched her stomach tightly in pain. Using my teeth and my good hand, I tore a strip off my shirt, then tied it tight around her midsection to seal the wound. We got up and started walking, and for hours we awkwardly walked in silence, taking breaks every half hour.

Soon we stumbled upon a road, and decided to sit until a car came by.

"Carlton, Carlton!" I felt O'Hara nudging my shoulder, then realized that I had fallen asleep. I heard a slow rumbling getting louder. "Car!" She shouted.

That woke me up.

"Holy shit, yes!" I cried. We both stood up and waved our arms. Soon the yellow pickup truck slowed near us.

"My god! Lassiter, Juliet! What are you _doing_ here?"

"Henry?"


	4. Chapter 4

_PREVIOUSLY:_

"_Holy shit, yes!" I cried We both stood up and waved our arms. Soon the yellow pickup truck slowed near us._

"_My god! Lassiter, Juliet! What are you doing here?"_

"_Henry?"_

_~/~_

"Everyone's been looking for you! Are you okay?"

"Do we _look_ okay, grandpa?" I sneered

"Carlton!" Juliet whispered angrily. We were both on edge from lack of sleep, stress, and pain.

"Please help" Juliet said, leaning against me to keep from collapsing. Henry Spencer jumped out of his truck and got a closer look at the two of us. "What the…holy shit. What happened?

"Jigsaw" Juliet murmured, getting very lightheaded from standing up.

"Just get us away from here." I said. "…Of course, of course. Get in." Henry, still in shock, hustled us over to the car door and helped us in, caught us when Juliet's foot slipped on the step and we all almost fell back on the asphalt. Juliet and I slid down on the bench seat and Henry got in and began to drive back the way he came.

"You say…_Jigsaw?_"

I nodded. Juliet had passed out on my shoulder. I watched the needle on the speedometer glide up to 80.

"He sewed you together?

I nodded again.

"That's just twisted."

"Why were you out here?" I wondered.

"I was on my way to go fishing. Looks like I got the catch of the day, everyone's been crazy trying to find you."

"How long were we gone? Fishing? Are we that close to the ocean?"

"You've been gone for five days, but with Yang's escape, you two are main targets, Juliet's already been a victim of Yin before, and everyone assumed the worst. Apparently not the _worst_ though, because Jigsaw's worse than Yang."

"Yang escaped!" I cried out.

"Just a few days ago. Something in the asylum caught fire, they had to evacuate. When they got everyone back in, she was gone." Henry said.

"I can't think about this right now." I sighed. "How far are we?"

"From a hospital? Not far. From Santa Barbara though, we're pretty far out. I came out here to go fishing on Lake Amaryllis, about an hour inland."

"Damnit." I sighed, leaning my head back and closing my eyes.

"Lassiter, don't pass out on me!"

~/~

The bright lights above me turn my closed-eye vision orange. Before I can even open my eyes I hear "Hey Lassie" from Spencer, but without the usual enthusiasm. I open my eyes and take note of the people in the room. Spencer, Guster, and Henry. "Why are you here, Spencer?" I grit my teeth.

"Honestly? They kicked us out of Jules's room." He replies, his face sinking.

_O'Hara_…

I look down at my right arm. It's bandaged up pretty tightly. Then I look at my leg. Of course, Juliet isn't attached to it anymore. "How is she?" That's the next thing out of my mouth, I can't help it.

Shawn's face drops again and he leans back in his plastic chair.

Henry filled me in. "They had some trouble separating your legs, but they managed to do it with mild muscle damage. You both have third degree burns on your backs. Your arm is cracked, but not broken. You still have most of your arm. As for Juliet, her left arm is broken, she's missing a good chunk of it, too. They've got her stable for now and that's all that matters."

I don't want to admit it to myself, but when I saw Shawn's face I was so relieved. He was one of the faces I thought I'd never see again.

"So, I hear Yang escaped." I say.

Shawn sighed. "Yeah" Gus says. "No victims yet, I guess, now that we know she wasn't involved with this."

I have to get started on this case "Bring me the file, I want to know every detail about how she escaped and how that loony bin possibly could have let this happen. They better have a good excuse, someone better have been dying!" My chest hurts, I must've gotten myself too worked up. Also must've cracked some ribs, I know that feeling.

"Calm down, Lassiter. Our main concern for you right now is resting and healing. We have some of our best men on this, including me."

"_You?_ They hired _you?_ You're not even a cop anymore!" I cried in outrage, wincing again at my ribs.

"Chief Vick made me a special offer because of the circumstances." Henry calmly replied.

"What about you, Spencer? Are you working this too?"

"No. Yes. Sort of. Well…"

"He's been asked to help out when he can but because of Juliet's condition and the fact that her next of kin is nearly 3000 miles away, Shawn has been asked to stay at her side whenever he can." Gus filled me in.

"Asked by who? You better check with O'Hara first because I swear if you-"

"_Juliet_ requested it." Gus said.

I Sighed, frustrated. "Oh." I noticed, oddly, that for once Spencer was speechless, sunk back in his chair with a careless interest in his shoes.

At that exact moment, the door swung open, making me jump. It didn't go unnoticed, and I got a concerned glance from Henry.

"Hi, my name's Aaron. I'm the social worker here." Aaron reached out his right hand to shake mine. At some point of his hand just hanging there, he noticed my bandaged arm, and instead switches hands, reaching his left hand out to me. Then he notices my bandaged and burned left hand, and awkwardly sticks his hand in his pocket.

"Okay. I'm going to have to ask you three to leave. I need to talk to Mr. Lassiter alone."

Henry, Shawn, and Gus shuffle out of the room and Aaron pulls up a plastic chair.

"Now, I understand you have just been through a trauma, and I'm going to help you through this."

"I don't need any help"

"Carlton. May I call you Carlton?"

"No."

"Okay, um, Mr. Lassiter, I-"

"Don't call me that either."

"…Right. So I want us to get to know each other a little, and I don't expect you to open up to me right away."

"Look, there is no 'opening up'. I'm not closed or anything. I was abducted, and had to fight for mine and my partner's life. And we survived. So there's nothing else to it. I don't need to 'talk it out'. Okay?"

"Okay, calm down Car-…Mr.-…um, calm down. I understand how you feel."

"NO! No, you don't understand how I feel! Okay? You weren't ripped from your normal life then asked to do next to _impossible_ things to save it, all while having to look after the person you care most about! I-" I realize my freaking out was not at all helping my 'I don't need help' case.

"I see." Aaron said quietly.

I let out a sigh and collapsed back on my bed, exasperated.

"I have a question for you, Carlton. Do you have feelings for your partner?"

"What? No! Not…no way!" I feel a blush heating my cheeks under my eyes and soon spreading to my whole face so bad my eyes water.

"I believe you."

"No you don't."

"You're right, I don't. Just know that anything we discuss here is completely confidential."

I did not know that. It comforts me slightly.

"You rest, Carlton. I'll be in to see you again tomorrow. Do you have any questions?"

I don't know why I wonder this, but I end up asking it out loud anyway. "Does Juliet have a social worker too?"

Oh my god I just called her Juliet! Why the hell did I do that?

"Yes. She's working with Kelly."

"Okay. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Carlton."

Aaron walks out and I'm left alone with my thoughts.

He calls me Carlton. Why? No, he can't do that! Only O'Hara calls me that!

My thoughts drift to Yang as I try to figure a way to catch her. We need some type of bait. A trap. Trap. Jigsaw. Boiling water, stitches, keys, videotapes, evidence, 0:42 seconds left, 3 legged race, babies, yellow trucks.

Stop.

I force myself to think of better things, but it doesn't work. It never works.

It's going to be a long night.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Good morning, Carlton. I need you to wake up for me now so I can take your vitals." A chubby, elderly woman with a thick southern accent turned on the light over my head and began to poke me.

"Okay, okay, I'm up!" I squirm away from her.

"Hold still now." She takes my pulse, blood pressure, temperature, and asked me how recently I pooped.

Like, what the hell?

Then she began to unwrap my arm bandage. I admit, I got a little scared; I didn't really want to see it.

She slowly peeled it off and it stuck a little because of the antibiotic and stitches. I shudder a little at the sight of black stitches. The torn skin goes along the outer side of my arm, from my wrist to my elbow, torn as wide as the top of my arm. "Looks good." She cleans it and tightly wraps a fresh bandage.

Next, the bandage on my left hand came off. My hand looked way worse. It was pale white with whiter blisters all over it, and dead skin was hanging off.

"Do they know what acid it was?" I ask

"Not yet, they're still running tests according to the symptoms. I have to just trim off some dead skin here, but not much, don't worry." She cuts the floppy skin away, applies some type of cream to it, and re-bandages it again.

Then she did my leg. The cuts on my leg kinda looked like elongated tear drops: a hole where the stitches were originally strung, then torn where it has been ripped from falling and pulling. After she bandages that, she takes my blood.

"Y'all want some breakfast now?" She asks cheerily.

"I'm not hungry." I mutter.

"Now, don't give me that. I just took your blood; you need to get some sugar back."

"I'm really not hungry," I growl, irritated.

"At least have some juice."

"…Fine."

She leaves to go get some juice and I inspect my new bandages. I try to scratch the one on my hand because it itches like crazy now, but the nurse comes back in with some juice and swats my hand away. Don't do that, unless you want scars."

"Pretty sure I'm going to have scars anyway." I mutter.

"What was that, darling?"

"Nothing."

"Aaron's here to see you now. My name's Cheryl, y'all just give me a shout if ya need anything."

Aaron came in and I had only one question I had been waiting to ask all night.

"When can I see my partner?"

"Soon, actually. She's up already, they got her vitals and she's been cleared for visitors. I came to ask if you wanted to see her now."

"Yes! Absolutely. Wait. Do I have to be in a wheelchair?"

"Sorry, yes to the wheelchair. I'll call a nurse in to help you up."

A different nurse comes in and helps me struggle into a wheelchair.

"Ahh!" The slightest amount of pressure gets put on my right leg as I lift it to the floor. I can feel the burning shoot up my bone, and I collapse backwards into the chair.

"Alright, Carlton, you ready?" Aaron asked.

I winced at the use of my first name, but I didn't say anything. Instead I just nodded.

He pushed me upstairs to the ICU and led me into room 523.

The first thing I saw as I rounded the corner was the couch. Then the monitor, then Juliet. She was a mess. I noted every detail. Her hair was back in a ponytail, a red line with stitches was right above her eyebrow. Her eyes were open, empty, staring at me.

That look on her face. I know that look. She gets that look sometimes when Yin is brought up, or when her father is mentioned. It's a flashback look, and this time it was triggered by me. I wheel in further to tell her it's okay, but the words don't come out. Her left leg is propped up on a pillow, her bandaged arm is clutched close to her.

"Hey." Is all she says. She still has that far-away look.

"Hey." I swallow, but my throat is dry so it hurts, making me cough. I'm having flashbacks myself.

"H-how are you doing?" I ask. Stupid, stupid, stupid! That's all I can come up with?

"Everything hurts." She replies.

I wheel up next to her, and Aaron gives me a thumbs-up and he leaves the room, closing the door behind him.

She looks at me. "Shawn…" I start

"I know. He's really messed up about all this."

"You are too. You have a right to be!" I say

"Henry's upset, too. This is really affecting everyone, and no one even knew until now!" She says. That's when I understand that she's talking about the baby.

She sighed. "It's all just too much to deal with. I hear Chief Vick is coming later. And Shawn and Henry. Will you stay?"

"Of course." I reply. "I hope Chief brings the files for the cases."

"Cases?" She asks

"Yeah, Yang's case, and ours." I swallow. "Jigsaw."

She looks away. "Right."

"O'Hara, this isn't going to affect our partnership, right? Because sometimes when something really traumatic happens to partners, they begin to grow apart." I worry this might happen to us.

"That's what happened with my last partner." She starts "That's part of the reason I moved here. We had a really disturbing human trafficking case, NCIS called us to the scene. We found at least a dozen bodies piled up; raped, beaten, and cut open. There was one little girl, no more than seven years old, who was the only one alive when we got there. She wasn't going to make it, not even if there had been an ambulance there right away." She glanced away, holding back tears, then continued, "Jeff, my partner, she died in his arms. I was right next to him, Carlton. She had big blue eyes and blond hair. She was taken during her sleep, still had her bunny pajamas on. We grew apart after that." She looked back at me. "But I don't think we'll grow apart. His intention was to bring us closer anyways.'

"Don't say that! Nothing that son of a bitch has done has ever helped anybody!"

"Some of his victims say it did help. Amanda said that."

"Don't talk about him! Just stop, okay!"

"If we don't talk about it, we can never get over it!"

"There is no getting over it! And I _don't_ need to talk about it!"

"Well maybe I do! Do you ever think about anyone but yourself!" She snapped.

We both pause, breathing heavily. How could she say that? I just saver her life! Well, _we _saved each other's lives, together. I'm not self-centered. Am I?

"Carlton…I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"No. I'm sorry. I _was_ only thinking about myself."

"If you're not comfortable talking about it, you don't have to."

"…I just don't know if I'm ready yet."

Aaron enters the room then. "Am I interrupting anything?" He asks.

"No." We both say simultaneously.

"Good, you have some visitors. Carlton, you can stay for the visit."

"Don't call me that." I work up the courage to say that. Juliet smiles at me.

"Will do." He replies.

Well that was easy.

"You have three visitors: Henry, Shawn, and Karen. Do you want to see all of them?"

I look to O'Hara for a response.

"Sure." She agrees.

"Alright, I'll go get them." Aaron leaves and comes back a minute later with Shawn, Henry, and Chief tailing him. Shawn quickly makes his way to his spot net to O'Hara, and takes her hand. Henry takes the corner of the couch, and Karen sits next to him.

"Carlton, Juliet, I- heh-I can't tell you how happy I am to see you two alive. Not unharmed, but alive. When we first thought it was Yang, then heard it was the Jigsaw Killer, well, all I can say is the whole department has pretty much gone into big-brother mode; everyone's working extra hours trying to find Jigsaw and Yang." Chief said.

"Where are we on the case?" I ask.

"We've found the building he had you in, it was his classic bathroom setup, but no other buildings nearby, no evidence as to where he is now. The tape you rescued from the explosion is a bit damaged, we're having forensics work on that. The key you had in your pocket, we actually managed to lift prints, they're still running through our databases." Chief fills us in.

"Great." I think that's the first time I've ever used that word non-sarcastically.

"Well, at least no one died. No lives were lost in this, and you guys will be fine." Chief was apparently oblivious.

I glance at Juliet, and I see tears at the brim of her eyes, Her knuckles whiten as she grips Shawn's hand.

"I guess we are very lucky for that. Thank god." She continued.

"Hey, Karen, can I talk to you outside for a sec?" Henry jumps in, sensing the awkward in the room.

"Sure. Any reason?"

"Just…come with me."

As they leave, I move to the door so I can hear what they're saying.

"Karen, I know you didn't know this, but, well, someone _did_ die." Henry said.

"I don't know what you mean."

"I mean…there were technically three of them in Jigsaw's trap."

"Three?"

"Yeah. Juliet was…"

"Oh. Oh god. Oh my god. Henry, no, you're not serious!"

Henry muttered something I couldn't quite make out. I didn't really want to hear any more so I wheeled back over to the bed.

After that, the visit was uneventful, I could tell everyone was kind of tiptoeing around Shawn, O'Hara, and me.

After that, I was introduced to my afternoon nurse, Tanya, a young woman who didn't really say much. She actually made me miss Cheryl. Tanya brought me back to my room after the visit and made sure I ate my lunch.

I was introduced to my evening-staff nurse, a young man named Mason. Mason was actually someone I got along with. He was funny, and he didn't tiptoe around me like I was some fragile doll.

"Hey, Lassiter, you have a visit." Mason called.

"Really? Now?" I ask. It was after dinner, around 7, visiting hours are over soon.

"Yeah. Buzz McNabb? Want me to let him in?"

I sighed. I really didn't want to deal with Buzz right now, but I agreed anyways.

"Hey Detective Lassiter! Glad to see you're okay!" Buzz said, happy as always. He reminds me of a puppy. 6 foot puppy.

"I'm _not_ okay." I imagine Aaron giving me a thumbs-up at admitting that.

"Well, I brought you this!" Buzz enters the room all the way, revealing a 3-foot teddy bear and a smiley-face balloon.

"Oh McNabb, you have got to be kidding." I groan

His face fell, and I couldn't stand it. I need to start being nicer!

"I love it. Thanks, Buzz."

He puts on a huge grin and right then his cell phone rings. "I'll be right back Mr. Lassiter!" Buzz rushes out of the room.

After a 3 minute staring contest with the creepy teddy bear, Buzz re-enters the room, but he is no longer smiling.

"That was the Chief." He says. "Yang's taken a victim."


	6. Chapter 6

So the first bit is just explaining how he got out of the hospital, but the middle and the end of this chapter still amazes me at how the fuck I came up with it. In other words, it's awesome. See if you can catch the movie reference in Yang's riddle before Shawn!

Chapter 6

It's been two weeks since we got here, and today we're getting out. After much physical therapy and exams, we've both been cleared for discharge. Henry brought me some of my clothes from my house, and right now Mason was helping me dress. We had become good friends since I got here, and I found I could open up to him instead of Aaron, and opening up has _never_ been anything I've ever been able to do. Mason told me about his life, his partner, Rob, and his two kids, Jamey and Alix. Mason is the only thing I'm going to miss about this place.

Henry and Shawn are going to pick us up and drive us home, like I would dare trust Guster to drive me around. Shawn is going to stay with O'Hara for a few days to make sure she gets around okay.

So it's all planned out. Chief says I can't come back for at least a week, but if she thinks I'm not going to come back on the very first day then she doesn't know me at all.

I wanted to donate my teddy bear to O'Hara, but it turns out Buzz got her one too. Luckily, she offered to give my teddy bear to her nephews.

The nurses always suggest discharge in the evening so we could just get home and sleep. Mason pulled up the wheelchair for me. Unfortunately, it was required for me to be wheeled out of the hospital, then I could start walking. Walking was still painful, but I was getting better at it through practice in physical therapy.

The ride home was uneventful. A couple of officers had been waiting to greet us outside the hospital, but I just wanted to go home so we left quickly.

"You sure you're going to be okay, Lassiter?" Henry asked for the third time. I rounded the corner to the door of my apartment. "Lay off it, Henry. I'll be fine." I replied over my shoulder for the third time. "G'night Lassiter."

I reached for my spare key and let myself in, closing and locking the door behind me.

_Finally alone._

First order of business: I grabbed plastic bags and rubber bands from my kitchen and tightly tied them around my bandages. Stripping off my clothes, I made my way to the bathroom and turned on the shower all the way until it was hot. I got in facing the shower head because of the burns on my back. Finally, relaxing, alone with myself. I let the hot water run down my face and over my entire body. Before I know it, it's been 20 minutes. I shut off the water and towel myself dry.

_Better get some rest. I have a case to solve tomorrow. _

~/~

(Okay this is where the boring ends)

"Detective!" Chief sighed. "Never mind. I can't make you stay at home. Just be careful." I spot a familiar blond across the room. "O'Hara?" I call. She turns and I walk over to her. She's holding tightly to Shawn's arm, working on standing straight. I try to make my way through the crowd, but the Chief calls everyone over to the board and portable TV. We all gather around, and I move to stand next to Juliet and Shawn. She looks weak and pale, and I get mad at Shawn for letting her come.

"Attention! Forensics has fixed up the Jigsaw tape, but it hasn't been analyzed yet. The prints from the key have run through our entire system with no matches. This guy's a ghost. As for Yang." Chief pulls out the big whiteboard. There's a bunch of photos connected by lines, but I'm too far back to see.

"The name of the victim is Megan Hoffman. This name may sound familiar because her brother was one of Jigsaw's earliest victims, Mark Hoffman. Yang has never done anything involving The Jigsaw killer before, so clearly she is aware of what's been going on. Since her main targets are people involved with Shawn Spencer, officers will be positioned at Shawn, Lassiter, Henry, and Guster's houses at night. As for the rest of you, your job is to keep your eyes peeled. Yang is out and about. She'll be needing clothing, food, and housing; start questioning store clerks and landlords about newcomers matching her description. Here are the photos from the scene of the murder:" Chief clicked a button on the remote, and the projector whirred to life and displayed a photo of the crime scene. A circular shrine of rocks surrounded a headless, footless body, curved in the yin-yang symbol. The head and foot completed the symbol, serving as the two dots. _Holy shit, this is twisted, even for Yang._

The Chief pauses a moment while everyone takes in the image. "Forensics shows that the cause of death was decapitation. Notice the right foot. The same side, cut off in the same place as Mark Hoffman cut his own foot. Fortunately for our victim, the foot was removed post-mortem. Yang's never been one to torture her victims, but it appears she's changing her usual methods to accommodate the Jigsaw factor. Also, _this_ was found in the victim's throat. " Chief flipped to the next slide to show a flash drive inside a ziplock bag. "On the flash drive were these photos." Chief flipped to the next slide. The first picture was the one with Shawn and Yang. The next was part of Juliet's face through a window. My fists clenched at my side. The next was a photo of Yin and Yang about 30 years ago, when Yang was just a kid. The last photo was the most disturbing. It was my, Juliet's, Shawn's, and Gus's heads on sticks. Obviously, It was photoshopped. It was still very unsettling.

"Encrypted in the code of these files was this message:"

_Listen close, this isn't just about Shawn_

_I want to meet the four of you at dawn_

_The Psychic, the black, the cop and the girl_

_Just solve this riddle, give it a swirl._

_**I want to meet you **_

_**Where Utah can be seen**_

_**And Patrick the ex-president**_

_**If you know what I mean**_

_**/**_

_**In this type of house**_

_**Ware you'll find my gift**_

_**Is the piece to the puzzle**_

_**If**_ _**you catch my drift**_

"Give it a swirl?" I ask.

"No, swirl means something." Shawn said. "Gus, what swirls?"

"Uh, a toilet?"

"I don't know why Yang would talk about a toilet, but maybe. What else? Where Utah can be seen? You can't see Utah from around here." Shawn says.

"And there's no president named Patrick." Juliet adds

"_This type of house, ware,_ That's gotta be a warehouse."

"But where? There are a hundred warehouses in this city."

I noticed Shawn had grown quiet. Upon closer inspection, he kept mumbling "Utah Patrick President."

Why does Yang want to see all of us? I know one thing, I am _NOT_ letting O'Hara anywhere near Yang.

"Gus, what is that? Utah Patrick President…swirl…water…water! Waves! 'Catch my drift'? Gus, Point Break!" Shawn shouts. Gus gives him a weird look. "Shawn, this is no time to be thinking about movies!"

"No, Gus! Point Break! _Patrick_ Swayze is one of the bank robbers who call themselves the '_ex-presidents' _ Keanu Reeves plays Johnny _Utah._ 'Where Utah can be seen' 'If you catch my drift' 'Give it a swirl' It's obviously the surfboard warehouse!" Shawn finishes.

"That's it! Shawn, you're a genius!" Gus says. I have to admit, it was pretty impressive. I guess occasionally his movie knowledge pays off.

"Screw going at dawn, let's go now so we can stake out the place. Maybe catch her on the way in!" I suggest eagerly.

"Wait!" The Chief calls. "There was one more picture. I was waiting to show it to you." I turn back to the board. "Well, what is it?"

The Chief clicks a button on the projector remote, and a final image shows up. It's a familiar looking blond boy tied to a chair, bound and gagged, with fear in his eyes. Juliet gasps next to me and covers her mouth with her hand.

"Aidan?" She whispers.

"Who is he?" I ask.

"He's my nephew." Juliet sobs.

"He's her hostage." Chief says.

_Damn. Well this complicates things._

"All the more reason to get there sooner." I say.

"Lassiter's right. We'll leave at dusk. She isn't going to go into the building in broad daylight, if she's not there already. Everyone get ready. I want that building surrounded by 9."

Everyone cleared out, and I turned to Juliet "Wait, I thought your brother didn't live in town?"

She sighs shakily. "He came out here to see me, after what happened. His wife was out of town so he had to bring the kids. Oh, god, I need to call him." She pulls out her phone and limps away. Shawn and I follow her. "Put it on speaker" Shawn says. Juliet dials and sets the phone on the desk. It barely rings before a frantic voice answers.

"_Juliet! What the hell, I've been calling you all morning!" _

"Sorry, I had to turn my phone off. Where are you now? Where are the kids?"

"_Jake and Cody are here with me, but Aidan's missing!"_

Juliet sighs. "…I know. Nick…he's a hostage."

"_What?"_

"I told you about the Yang killer, she has him. When did you last see him?"

"_Wait wait wait. Back up. Are you telling me that MY SON is in the hands of a serial killer?"_

"Nick, I know, we're gonna get him back. When did you last see him?"

Silence

"Nick?"

"_Damnit Juliet! You don't understand! This is all your fault! If I hadn't had to come all the way out here, my sons would be safe at home with me. Why do you always have to go around provoking murderers? You better find him by tonight or I swear I will-"_

"Nick! Stop it! I _do_ understand. Okay? I understand how it feels to lose a child!"

Everyone grows silent.

"._..Juliet, I'm sorry…"_

"Just listen, okay? We can get him back safely if you cooperate. When did you see him last?"

"_This morning, around 11. I left the kids in the hotel room while I went to go get ice. Jake and Cody admit to playing on the elevator while I was gone, they couldn't find Aidan, they thought he went back to the room but he wasn't there. They freaked out and came and found me." _He grew silent and when he spoke again, his voice sounded weak and it was obvious he had been crying. "_Please…find my son."_

"Nick," Juliet's voice was very soft. "You know I will do everything in my power to get him back safely. Now we have to go save your son."

"_Bye Jules."_

She hung up, and sighed, brushing her bangs back. "Let's go."

~/~

Ten police cars pulled up around the warehouse, just as the sun was setting. "O'Hara, you're staying in the car." I said. She didn't bother to argue, knowing it wouldn't work. Shawn, Gus, and I, and fifteen other police officers stood at the door.

"ONE! TWO! THREE!" I counted off before they went to ram the doors down, but the doors began to open by themselves. Yang stood in the doorway with a detonator in her hand.

"Only the four of you." She said. The other officers stepped back, leaving Shawn, Gus , and I.

"No way!" I said, but Juliet came up beside me.

"Way." Yang said, fingering the button eagerly. "Please," She laughed. "Enter my fine establishment."

~/~

AT THE STATION

"There's something missing…"Buzz McNabb thought to himself, looking over the riddle from Yang. He thought another moment, and suddenly it came to him. _In this type of house, is the piece to the puzzle. _"Jigsaw!" Buzz quickly dialed Chief.

GENERAL POV

The Chief tugged her phone out of her pocket. "Hello? What!" Chief turned her attention to the 4 standing just inside the doors of the warehouse.

"Get out! Get out! Jigsaw's in there! It's a trap!"

The four spun around just in time to see ten cop cars with flashing lights and stunned faces of armed officers before the doors shut in front of them, flooding their worlds with darkness and trapping them inside.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N I feel so bad for not updating in FOREVER! I'm so so sorry. This is my favorite story of mine though, so I will continue it soon. Sorry this chapter is kinda short, but I just wanted to let you guys know this story is not abandoned. Ok I'll shut up so YOU CAN READ! YAY!

Yang's laugh sliced the silence like knives, but it wasn't silent for long. The doors that had closed in front of us were rattling and shaking from the force of 3 police battering rams and god only knows how many officers trying to push or pry it open with their bare hands.

"Make them stop!" Yang screeched, closing her fist frighteningly tight on the detonator. "Or he blows up!" She got excited on the last two words, and flipped a light switch. A light way up at the ceiling of the warehouse came on, and up there, 4 stories up, I could barely make out Aidan's figure. From what I could see, he wasn't tied to anything, he was just up on a tiny ledge, no more than 4 feet wide. A little red light was blinking from his chest.

"Aidan!" Juliet cried. She put her finger to her ear, and began talking into her earpiece. "Chief, stand down. She's got Aidan strapped."

Yang launched herself at Juliet. "What is THAT! You can't have that, that's not part of the rules!" She ripped the earpiece off of O'Hara, threw it to the ground and stomped it to pieces, screeching curse words the way only a psychopath could. The shaking and banging and rattling on the doors stopped. I took that moment to pull my gun on Yang. I should've attacked her when she went after O'Hara. She stared at my gun and laughed. "Oh no Detective Lassiter, you will play _my _game first. Then you can have your _shot_." Her finger toyed with the button, then she fake-accidentally dropped it.

"Ahh!" We all said at once. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy there," Shawn said, taking a step forward. "Lassie" He said turning to me. I lowered my gun and re-holstered it. "Just tell us what we have to do to get us and Aidan out of here alive."

Yang's smile grew. "Play my game, Shawn." Then, a different voice said "Play my game" while Yang's lips moved. That voice. Jigsaw.

Gus screamed and ran back to the doors and began pounding on them. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back in line. "Keep it together, Guster." I hissed, but even my voice wavered.

"Alright." Shawn said firmly. "We'll play your game, Yang"

The lights went out as soon as Spencer said that. I heard him step back to be next to O'Hara. "I'm here" I heard him whisper to her. A warm hand grabbed mine. "Guster!" I hissed, pulling my hand out of his. Suddenly, 3 lights snapped on in front of us. That's when I heard soft pained cries seeming to come from everywhere. The lights were right in a row, leading to a solid large crate, acting as a wall. I looked left and right, the crates extended all the way down. Ahead of us kind of looked like an entrance to a maze, which I'm sure is what Yang had in mind. We all looked at each other. As much as I hate to admit, Spencer was really taking the lead here and being a mature, protective boyfriend and leader. He does well under pressure.

We all walked to the entrance, Shawn helping O'Hara because of her still injured leg. It scared me; what kind of sick freak would take his victims back not even a month after they escaped? We are dealing with a psychopath. Even more psychotic than Yang. Taking a deep breath, we turned left around the first corner. A single television set on a cart sat in the middle of the small space. Walls made up by crates, it was maybe 12 feet long and 7 feet wide. And completely dark, except for the television set which showed static. To my surprise, Spencer bravely strode over and pressed play.

Nothing happened.

We waited.

More nothing.

Shawn went to press it again, when a figure jumped out of the corner, wearing a disgusting real pig's head. "Hello gang. Ready to play my game?"

I whipped out my gun and aimed for his heart.

BLAM

He fell over in a pool of blood.


End file.
